The Vermont Military Museum would like to take this opportunity to thank the Vermont State Workers at Camp Johnson for their hours and days of braving the hot sun and other elements to replace the roof on the Museum. Without their hard work, it could have been a cost prohibitive project that would have required extra funding and perhaps years to complete. We are forever grateful to them and to the Administration at Camp Johnson for funding this project. We thank you all!

The picture below is our current crew of Tuesday volunteers at The Vermont Veterans Militia Museum and Library. The crew fom left to right includes: Bernie Phenning - President, Jean Rainville -Secretary, Pam Lamphere - Acting Treasurer and Roland Brosseau - Display Coordinator.

As always a special thanks to all our volunteers and the excellent job they do in maintaining our museum displays and handling the every day activities needed to continue to open during our regular business hours.

With the recent reorganization project which took place within the museum many new display cabinets were installed to better show the period pieces.

All of the cabinets were letter coded and the related lock keys were number tagged. The outside storage units have had government approved locks installed and the unit and lock keys have been number tagged.

The museum door keys have also been number coded and are now kept in a secured key safe. 

This project  was completed by volunteers Dan Ryan, Ozzie Lamoth and John Roach. 

Museum sign designed and built by Wayne Gibson - constructed by Wayne and Roland Charboneau.

  We want to thank the Vt Army Aviation Support Facility and the AVCRAD Groton CT, and the VT Support Facility for taking our UH1H and OH6A helicopters (shown below) to Groton, CT to do a great paint job and upgrade the windows  and have them back this spring in front of the museum.

As always, it is this kind of excellent support that really makes it a pleasure to make improvements to all of our displays. 

Stop by and see these two helicopters along with the rest of our extensive displays both inside and outside the compound. You MAY be surprised!!!

BEFORE:

AFTER:

BEFORE:

AFTER:

The Vermont Air National Guard was tasked with moving the museum static display F-4D aircraft located at Camp Johnson. The aircraft was temporarily move to the Regional Training Institute building parking lot, July 6, for a dual engine removal at the recommendation of the Air Force Museum at Wright Patterson AFB.

Removing the engines would take 8000lbs. off the weight of the aircraft main landing gears saving future maintenance and increasing aircraft longevity. During the routine towing operation and upon leaving the cement pads, the aircraft main tiures quickly sank in the ground, softened by the heavy spring rains. With the tires partially buried and unable to move, the 158th Maintenance Squadron Crash Damaged and Disabled Aircraft Recovery teams was called for assistance. CDDAR Team Members Sernior Master Sgt. Dale Walker, Master Sgt. Terry Tracy, Master Sgt. Brian Cota and Tech Sgt. Andrew Ehlers, put their training to the test and gained some valuable practical experience in the process.

Arriving at the site with equipment trailers and support equipment, they secured are and treated the scene as an actual recovery operation. CDDAR Team Chief Master Sgt. Jonathan Rilling formulated a plan utilizing large air bags to lift the aircraft out of the rut. Assisted by former F-4D Maintenance Personnel Senior Master Sgt. Alan Bouffard, Senior Master Sgt. Michael Delphia and Senior Master Sgt. Michael Henry and with the help of Staff Sgt. Walter Warner, the air bags were strategically placed under the aircaft on a temporary plywood base.

With four air bags neatly stacked and place under the fuselage and numerous air hoses    attached to the four monitoring and control stations, CDDAR Team members slowly applied air pressure inflating each bag under the direction of the CDDAR Team Chief. With only 5 pound per square in (5 psi.) of pressure applied, the heavy aircraft slowly lifted off the ground. As the tires cleared, the holes were filled and metal plating was set in place. In a coordinated effort to maintain proper weight distribution and balance, the air valves were slowly opened relieving pressure from the lifting bags until the aircraft settled under it’s own weight. The aircraft was then towed over metal plates to it’s temporary location without further incident.

Rilling later said that this was a good practical experience for the team because during training exercises they do not actually lift an aircraft off the ground. This gave the team a unique experience in maintaining balance durning the lifting and lowering operation through proper synchronization of four pressure control stations and an opportunity to work on an actual aircraft.